Things looked great for the Celtics going into the 2008-2009 NBA season. Coming off a thrilling championship, the team appeared to be no less poised to win another title than they were the year before. The situation changed very quickly with the injury of the team’s most valuable player, Kevin Garnett.

Glen “Big Baby” Davis was asked to handle Garnett’s load, but anyone with basketball knowledge knows that despite the fact that Davis did a respectable job filling in, Kevin Garnett is basically indispensable.

Garnett averaged the same points and almost twice the rebounds and blocks of Davis in the regular season. Even though the stats seem close enough together to call it a wash, Garnett was a far more valuable player.

Garnett’s veteran leadership proved that something was amiss without his presence, and the Celtics were no longer the powerhouse that they were at the season’s start.

Ray Allen, who had ups and downs, could not find his shot when it was needed the most. If Allen was able to hit the shot that was needed it may have been a completely different NBA finals. The Celtics may have been able to get more points if he had made the big shots in those games because they would have put more attention on him and less on Pierce.

With Garnett back, I believe that the Celtics are once again the favorite to win the crown in 2010.

This year, the Celtics have made sure that they will hopefully have at least two good big men in the playoffs if Garnett gets injured, as they signed Rasheed Wallace.

For the reasons above, Boston seems to pick up where it left off last year; as a very legitimate contender for another NBA championship.